1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a self-propelled vacuum-cleaning device for cleaning smooth and textile floor coverings, particularly in the private home sector. The device has a housing, a vacuum blower, an electrically driven cleaning roller, an electrical drive mechanism, control electronics, and a power source.
2. The Prior Art
Self-propelled vacuum-cleaning devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,545 and European Patent No. EP 0 803 224 B1, and in various embodiments from practice. The known embodiments have a rechargeable battery as a power source, which is manually or automatically charged in a charging station during breaks in operation. During cleaning, the self-propelled vacuum-cleaning devices are controlled by the control electronics, which act on the electrical drive mechanism. Various contact sensors or sensors that work without contact can be provided to recognize barriers and walls. It is also known to store the traveled path in the memory of the control electronics in the form of an electronic card, thereby making it possible to clean a complete area within as short a time as possible. With a typical power demand of up to 40 watts, the working time until the rechargeable batteries have been discharged is about one hour. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,545, the vacuum-cleaning tool is supposed to have low dimensions and a low maximal electric power of at most 100 watts, whereby typically, at most 5 to 10 watts are allocated to the vacuum blower and 2 to 3 watts are allocated to motors of the drive mechanism. The known vacuum-cleaning tools are suitable for removing coarse, loose particles such as crumbs and lint from smooth floor coverings. However, their cleaning effect on textile floor coverings is insufficient.